Household appliance for washing and/or drying

ABSTRACT

A household appliance for washing and/or drying fabric items, comprising:
         a washing and/or drying compartment ( 2 );   a hatch door ( 3 ) for access to the washing and/or drying compartment ( 2 );   an opening command ( 4 ) of the hatch door ( 3 ), said opening command ( 4 ) comprising a pusher ( 40 ) accessible by a user and located on a front of the household appliance ( 1 );       

     The pusher ( 40 ) extends in height for more than 8 centimetres in order to be easily compressible by an adult person using a knee.

The present invention relates to a household appliance for washing and/or drying items of clothing, typically washing machines, dryers, washers-dryers, etc.

Front-loading household appliances for washing and/or drying are known, and comprise an access hatch door and a washing/drying compartment. In the known solution the access hatch door can be opened by means of a lever placed on the hatch door; in a further known solution the hatch door can be opened by means of a small button integrated in the front panel of the household appliance or on the hatch door. This button typically sends an electric signal which determines the opening of the hatch door.

This solution is not free of drawbacks. A first drawback is linked to the fact that a user, in order to be able to access to the washing/drying compartment, must bend over in order to open the hatch door with his/her hands. A further drawback is linked to the fact that a user nearing the household appliance with a basket full of clothes to be washed/dried usually has both hands busy. Consequently in order to open the hatch door he or she must first put the basket down.

An aim of the present invention is to provide a household appliance which is able to facilitate access to a washing and/or drying compartment for an operator.

The technical task set and the specified aims are substantially achieved by a household appliance comprising the technical characteristics set out in one or more of the appended claims.

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following indicative, and hence non-limiting, description of a preferred, but not exclusive, embodiment of a household appliance as illustrated in the appended drawings, in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a household appliance according to the present invention in two different configurations;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show two sections of the household appliance in the configuration of FIG. 1;

FIGS. 5 and 6 show two sections of the household appliance in the configuration of FIG. 2;

In the accompanying drawings, reference numeral 1 indicates a household appliance for washing and drying laundry items. For example, the household appliance 1 is a washing machine, a dryer or a washer-dryer machine.

The household appliance 1 comprises a washing and/or drying compartment 2. The washing compartment 2 usually houses a rotary basket for the laundry.

The washing compartment comprises a hatch door 3 for access to the washing and/or drying compartment 2. The hatch door 3 is typically shaped as a porthole.

The household appliance 1 comprises an opening command 4 of the hatch door 3. The opening command 4 comprises a pusher 40 accessible by a user. The pusher 40 is located on a front of the household appliance 1.

The pusher 40, if pressed, enables opening of the hatch door 3; the pusher 40 in a “pressed” configuration is shown in FIGS. 2, 5, 6. FIGS. 1, 3, 4 show the hatch door 3 closed and the pusher not pressed, in a rest configuration.

The household appliance 1 has an external casing (or cabinet) comprising, apart from the front, also a top (facing upwards) and lateral flanks.

The household appliance is front-loading. The hatch door 3 is on the front of the household appliance 1. The pusher 40 lies by a side of the hatch door 3 (but still on the front).

The pusher 40 is advantageously located in proximity of a first flank 34 of the hatch door 3. The first flank 34 of the hatch door 3 is the flank opposite the one in which the hatch door 3 is hinged to remaining parts of the household appliance 1.

The pusher 40 extends in height for more than 8 centimetres in order to be easily compressible by an adult person (hypothesizing a height typically comprised between 150 and 200 mm), using a knee. The pusher 40 preferably extends in height for more than 12 centimetres. An extension in height is intended to mean a vertical extension.

The height extension is important. In fact, it must be adapted to the fact that the activation of the pusher 40 must be easy for people of different height.

The pusher 40 conveniently extends in height for more than 3 centimetres. The maximum width of the pusher 40 is greater than 5 centimetres. The pusher 40 advantageously has a frontal surface that is greater than 50 cm².

The pusher 40 must in fact be easily activatable since it must be remembered that the activation thereof by a knee requires a larger surface with respect to a case in which the activation is done with the fingers of a hand (both for reasons of coordination and because the knee is larger than the fingers of a hand).

The pusher 40, when not pressed, projects with respect to an immediately adjacent zone. The fact that the pusher 40 projects makes it easily reachable by a user's knee. The pusher 40 is retro-activated elastically in order to be repositioned at rest position in a non-compressed configuration. At least a spring advantageously performs this elastic retro-action.

In order to facilitate the ergonomics of the household appliance, the pusher 40 has a minimum distance from a lower rest plane 5 of the household appliance 1 which is less than 35 centimetres. For the purposes of evaluation of the minimum distance the point closest to the rest plane 5 must be chosen.

Additionally or alternatively the pusher 40 has a maximum distance from a rest plane 5 of the household appliance 1 which is greater than 45 centimetres. For the purposes of evaluation of the maximum distance the point closest to the rest plane 5 must be chosen.

The rest plane 5 of the household appliance 1 is a fictional plane which coincides with the floor plane or the surface on which the household appliance 1 is rested.

It is advantageously an imaginary horizontal plane 6 equidistant from an upper end 31 and from a lower end 32 of the hatch door 3 crosses the pusher 40. In the hypothesised case, in which the hatch door 3 comprises a porthole with a circular external perimeter, a horizontal plane passing through the centre of the perimeter of the porthole intersects the pusher 40.

The household appliance 1 comprises an opening command 8 of the hatch door 3. The mechanism 8 is activated by the pusher 40. The mechanism 8 is advantageously hidden from a user's sight, in particular it is in the casing (of the household appliance 1). The mechanism 8 is advantageously purely mechanical (and does not require electrically-commanded unblocking elements).

The opening mechanism 8 transforms a push on the pusher 40, orientated in a front-to-back direction of the household appliance 1, into a translation of a retaining cursor 70 of a hook 33 of the hatch door 3. This translation frees the hook 33 from the cursor 70. In a blocking configuration of the hatch door 3 the hook 33 comprises a catch 330 abutted by the cursor 70. With the activation of the pusher 40, the catch 330 frees from the abutment defined by the edge of a loop 36 afforded in the cursor 70. The catch 330 can therefore enter the loop 36.

The opening mechanism 8 comprises an L-shaped lever 81. The lever 81 comprises a first and a second arm 811, 812. The first and the second arm 811, 812 are reciprocally transversal, preferably orthogonal (and define the two sides of the L). The lever 81 can rotate about a pin 814 located along the first arm 811. The first arm 811 of said L-shaped lever is in contact with the pusher 40. The pin 814 is interposed between a contact zone of the first arm 811 with the pusher 40 and a connecting zone between the first arm 811 and the second arm 812.

The opening mechanism 8 advantageously comprises an intermediate element 813 hinged both to the second arm 812 and to the cursor 70. The cursor 70 comprises a shaping 71 which enables the pusher 40 to enter (see FIG. 6).

The present invention provides important advantages.

Primarily it enables easy opening of the hatch door 3 by a user without any need to bend over. Further it enables opening of the hatch door 3 even by a user having both hands busy, by using his or her knee on an opening command. For this purpose the position and shaping of the pusher 40 have been widely researched in order to optimise the ergonomics and facilitate the opening.

The invention as it is conceived is susceptible to numerous modifications and variants, all falling within the scope of the inventive concept characterized thereby. The materials used, as well as the dimensions, may in practice be of any type, according to needs. In practice, all the materials used, as well as the dimensions, can be any according to requirements. 

1. A household appliance for washing and/or drying fabric items, the household appliance comprising: a washing and/or drying compartment; a door for access to the washing and/or drying compartment; and an opening command of the door, said opening command including a pusher accessible by a user and located on a front of the household appliance, wherein said pusher extends in height for more than 8 centimeters in order to be easily compressible by an adult person using a knee.
 2. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein the household appliance is front-loading, and the pusher is lying at a side of the door.
 3. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said pusher, when not pressed, projects with respect to an immediately-adjacent zone.
 4. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said pusher has a minimum distance from a lower rest plane of the household appliance which is less than 35 centimeters.
 5. The household appliance according to claim 4, wherein said pusher has a maximum distance from the lower rest plane which is more than 45 centimeters.
 6. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said pusher has a front surface which is greater than 50 cm2.
 7. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein an imaginary horizontal plane equidistant from an upper end and from a lower end of the door crosses the pusher.
 8. The household appliance according to claim 1, further comprising an opening mechanism of the door activated by said pusher, wherein said opening mechanism transforming a push on the pusher, orientated in a front-to-back direction of the household appliance, into a translation of a retaining cursor of a hook of the door, said translation freeing the hook from said cursor.
 9. The household appliance according to claim 8, wherein the opening mechanism comprises: a lever having an L-shape, wherein the lever includes a first and a second arm which are reciprocally transversal, wherein the lever being able to rotate about a pin located along the first arm, wherein the first arm of said L-shaped lever being in contact with the pusher, wherein the pin being interposed between a contact zone of the first arm with the pusher and a connecting zone between the first arm and the second arm; and an element hinged both to the second arm and to the cursor.
 10. The household appliance according to claim 1, wherein said pusher is a button.
 11. The household appliance according to claim 2, wherein said pusher, when not pressed, projects with respect to an immediately-adjacent zone.
 12. The household appliance according to claim 2, wherein said pusher has a minimum distance from a lower rest plane of the household appliance which is less than 35 centimeters.
 13. The household appliance according to claim 3, wherein said pusher has a minimum distance from a lower rest plane of the household appliance which is less than 35 centimeters.
 14. The household appliance according to claim 2, wherein an imaginary horizontal plane equidistant from an upper end and from a lower end of the door crosses the pusher.
 15. The household appliance according to claim 3, wherein an imaginary horizontal plane equidistant from an upper end and from a lower end of the door crosses the pusher.
 16. The household appliance according to claim 4, wherein an imaginary horizontal plane equidistant from an upper end and from a lower end of the door crosses the pusher.
 17. The household appliance according to claim 2, further comprising—an opening mechanism of the door activated by said pusher, wherein said opening mechanism transforming a push on the pusher, orientated in a front-to-back direction of the household appliance, into a translation of a retaining cursor of a hook of the door, said translation freeing the hook from said cursor.
 18. The household appliance according to claim 3, further comprising—an opening mechanism of the door activated by said pusher, wherein said opening mechanism transforming a push on the pusher, orientated in a front-to-back direction of the household appliance, into a translation of a retaining cursor of a hook of the door, said translation freeing the hook from said cursor.
 19. The household appliance according to claim 4, further comprising—an opening mechanism of the door activated by said pusher, wherein said opening mechanism transforming a push on the pusher, orientated in a front-to-back direction of the household appliance, into a translation of a retaining cursor of a hook of the door, said translation freeing the hook from said cursor.
 20. The household appliance according to claim 5, further comprising—an opening mechanism of the door activated by said pusher, wherein said opening mechanism transforming a push on the pusher, orientated in a front-to-back direction of the household appliance, into a translation of a retaining cursor of a hook of the door, said translation freeing the hook from said cursor. 